Austin Ben Connor: What a Weekend...

It started with a visit to the developmental ped on Friday with Connor. I have been ticking off the days until we got here. Dr B is the one who gave Connor his PDD-NOS diagnosis. Some people felt it was a rash decision on his part and that Connor was too young, but I felt it was valid based on his exam last April. However, the progress we have seen since then has been amazing. Dr B could not have been more pleased with Connor's progress. He could match 12 of 14 shapes (some obscure) and knew the names for more than the Dr expected. He knew his colors and could stack 8 blocks. He could have gone higher, but my shortey couldn't reach anymore. He could build tunnels with his blocks and choo-choos. For those with typical kids these may seem odd and useless criteria but they all hit on some part of the diagnosis. About all the dr could say was how smart he was and how far he's come. It'll be a few weeks until I get the actual reports with numbers, but cognitively he is well over the 3 age level. He does still fit some of the PDD profile so it won't be dropped at this time, but the Dr is certain the day will come that we will be able to drop the diagnosis. YIPPEE! The Dr's biggest concern is the amount of echolalia he still uses. This is the 'echoing of verbal utterances made by another'. He should be doing less and less of this and more proper speech, but it's moving along. He spent a lot of time 'singing' this weekend. Head & Shoulders, ABC song...but there are a lot of 'blanks' in the song where he knows what sound is supposed to be there but not what word. The Dr is also very interested in the tuberous sclerosis issues in the family. He would love to have Connor gene tested and get a brain MRI, but feels it's important not to put Connor under anesthesia. Even though the chances of the anesthesia causing problems is remote, it's just not something he wants to risk right now. So as with Austin, we will table the issue and revisit it at a later date. The other good news is he feels Connor is doing so well that we can wait for a year to come visit again!! YIPPEE! What a great way to start the weekend.

Saturday was mostly a lazy house work day...but Mom, Doug and Aunt Karen offered to babysit my sick kids so we could go out with friends in the evening. We went to the Great Escape to visit Liam the Leprechaun (aka our friend Vinnie!). The lucky leprechaun even got us to the front of the two hour wait for the haunted house...which wasn't very haunted. Thankfully we didn't have to wait two hours for the disappointment! We froze our tushes off, but had a great time.
Click pics to enlarge...

Liam and friends

Beer mug boys...Jeff L, Eric and my Jeff - we made them wear them into the restaurant after!
me and Jeff L...bad pic of me, but a really cool wig!

Well, as some of you may have guessed from the previous post...it's that time of year again... another birthday. As one friend so nicely put it, yesterday was my 20+11 birthday...much nicer than my other friend who pointed out that I was 62 times older than her daughter who was celebrating her half b-day yesterday. And no one better do the math for my other friends daughter who was celebrating her 3 month b-day yesterday! But it was good. I slept in (until 8AM!!!) and was awoken to Happy Bdays from my precious little boys. Although by 9 AM I was no longer calling them precious. Not sure what the g-parents and Aunt Karen fed them the night before, but they were WILD! All day we were separating them. Can't tell you how many boo-boos I kissed yesterday! By 1 pm we had the kids packed in the car for a foliage drive...aka... time for the kids to take a nap and the rents to enjoy some peace and quiet! We had dinner with the in laws...yummy spaghetti and meatballs and of course b-day cake...where the kids continued their wild ways. By the end of the night we had more boo-boos, including a nice shiner to Ben's cheekbone!